Netflix plans to release 80 new films in 2018

Oct. 17 (UPI) -- Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos said Monday that the streaming service plans to release 80 feature-length movies in 2018, a number that would dwarf top Hollywood movie studios.

"They range anywhere from the million-dollar Sundance hit, all the way up to something on a much larger scale," Sarandos said in an investors' interview about Netflix's third-quarter results for 2017, Variety reported.

Netflix is already beginning to put out the bigger budget fare, such as Bright, a $90 million thriller starring Will Smith set for release on the streaming site on Dec. 22.

Netflix's plan to release 80 films in one year could prove to be one of the more ambitious undertakings by a movie studio in today's market. Deadline points out that number averages to a new new movie every four and a half days.

Meanwhile, bigger, more established movie studios are not coming close to 80 films per year. Slate reports that in 2016, Fox released 16 films, Sony put out 22 and Warner Bros. had 23.

And the four studios under the Sony banner released a total of 38 films.

But Sarandos isn't concerned that supply will outweigh demand.

"People will start seeing the potential for this big movie initiative," he said.